Equality Australia Releases LGBTQIA+ Election Voting Guide

Equality Australia have released a federal election voting guide, reflecting where major parties and some independents stand on the issues that matter most to our communities.

With issues presented side-by-side for easy comparison, the guide shows the extent to which each party or candidate has committed to advancing the rights and wellbeing of LGBTIQ+ people in Australia across a range of key issues.

Responses were provided to 21 questions within eight key topic areas, based on the priorities identified by nearly 5,500 LGBTIQ+ voters who participated in the Rainbow Votes 2025 survey. Issues ranged from health and data collection, to discrimination protections, and support for queer families.

“Many LGBTIQ+ voters told us they unsure about which party or candidate will do the best job of representing them and we have found higher electoral indecision in our community compared to the last federal poll,” said Equality Australia Legal Director Heather Corkhill.

“Our voting guide indicates where the parties and independents stand on issues that impact us day to day.

“It also reflects who will fight to advance the rights and wellbeing of LGBTIQ+ people and best represent our diverse communities should they form part of Australia’s 48th parliament.”

The Liberal-National Coalition failed to respond to eight specific issues, including protection for LGBTQIA+ asylum seekers, redress and support for intersex people, and support for gender-affirming care. They were not able to fully commit to any of the policy areas.

The Greens were fully committed to all policy areas but one, being the ending of unnecessary, non-consensual treatments on intersex people. However, their response specified the full implementation of the recommendations of the Darlington Statement, funding for additional research to better support the needs of intersex people, and the implementation of a redress scheme, while both the Liberal-Nationals Coalition and Labor provided weak or unclear commitments.

The selection of independent candidates included Caz Heise, Dr Helen Haines, David Pocock, and Allegra Spender, the latter of whom was the only independent to respond to all questions.

Almost 1 million rainbow voters

The voting guide is the latest resource from Equality Australia released this election campaign, following the Rainbow Votes survey and the election forum hosted in Sydney earlier this month.

Almost 1 million LGBTQIA+ voters will take to the polls in the federal election next week, with 1 in 5 reporting they were undecided on their vote.

Of  issues specific to the LGBTQIA+ community, participants deemed the banning of conversion practices to be the most important, followed by improved protection from discrimination, and the ending of unnecessary, con-consensual medical treatments on intersex people.

“LGBTIQ+ people continue to face discrimination and many of us struggle to access appropriate and safe health care when we need it,” Corkhill said.

“We are also seeing an increase in hate crimes targeting our communities and queer staff and students can still be legally discriminated against in religious schools.

“Our community has made significant gains over the last decade and most Australians believe we deserve to be treated with dignity and respect, but our voting guide clearly shows that more needs to be done before we can live our lives free from discrimination and harm.”